Fish out of water
by Hobbit Babe
Summary: mermaids, Demons... and Abe? Oh, my! AbeOC HELP! I need ideas to continue this story!
1. Chapter 1

**hey there, it's hobbitbabe. abe lover and hellboy enthusest. I would like to thank my awesome beta karen. without her this story would suck.**

Hellboy was snoring like a buzzsaw on crack. His heavy snore was cut by a snort in the middle. The sound filled the little house on the beach in Italy until it nearly poured out of the windows and onto the beach.

Abe winced at the sound and decided to go for a swim. As soon as he dived in, he relaxed. He felt at home in the water, and nothing could bother him there.

Or so he thought. The sound of splashing and snarling filled his ears. (Yes, even in water he could hear quite well.) Slowly, carefully, he approched the disturbance. What he saw both frightened and confused him. A thing like a giant saltwater pike was trying to eat something that looked like a mermaid.

Then he remembered the reason they were in Italy. There were there to investagate some strange deaths, like fishermen found bitten in half, but not by any shark. The tooth marks were too strange for that.

He heard the mermaid give out a periceing scream as the giant pike thing tore at her tail. Her screams were painful to hear. Carefully,he swam up behind the pike thing and finding his spear, jabbed it right behind the eye, killing it instantly. He searched around for the mermaid, and saw that she was trying to swim to shore. He swam up behind her and helped her swim into the shallows. Raggedly, she crawled out of the water and began to change form.

Her skin, which had been as greenish blue as his, turned a human tone. Her dainty hands lost their webbing, and her tail split apart to form legs. Abe smiled at her and nodded warmly. "I- I'll be right back okay?" Withough waiting for an answer, he ran just as quickly went to get Liz and they carried the mermaid to the little house.They carryed her to Liz's room and laid her down on the bed. Liz shooed Abe out of the room. "Go on, get out. She's barely dressed!"

Liz looked around the room and spotted her old gray robe and softly dressed the mermaid in it. No sooner had she done this, Hellboy walked into the room, Abe shuffling in nervously behind him. Hellboy looked rather amused and quipped,"Hey, who's the babe?"

Liz looked annoyed. "Is that all you can say?" Her face was beginning to bloom red at the cheeks as she looked at Hellboy when Abe piped up from the door.

"Well she is quite attractive..."

Liz groaned in annoyance. "Men!" She said it under her breath and still looked preturbed."So what do you suppose we do..."

Before she could finish, the mermaid opened her eyes and screamed again. Her scream was so loud that it shattered all the windows and every bit of glass in the house. Abe almost screamed himself, she was that loud...

The mermaid frantically looked at the three people watching her when she had stopped screaming_."Who are you? What do you want? A-are you here to take me back to my father?" _The poor mermaid was trembling with fear now.

"Red, Liz, hold her down for a moment." Abe leaned to gently put a hand on the mermaid's forhead.

_"Please, don't be afraid. We will not hurt you."_ The girl looked at Abe, clearly still frightened.

_"Are you the one who saved me?"_ she asked, beginning to visably calm down.

_"Yes." _he thought, feeling a little embarrassed.

_"Then I trust you."_ The girl smiled then, keeping her pretty eyes on his.

Abe blinked. _"Are you still frightened of us?" _

_"Yes, those other two scare me... they are not like I am."_ She said in her mind, looking very uncertainly at Hellboy and Liz.

_"They're my friends. They won't harm you any more than I would." _Abe almost blushed at his own bravado.

She didn't look one hundred percent sure, but she smiled at Abe. _"You saved my life, so I owe you my trust."_ Something in her tone held a bit more weight than what she was actually saying.

Abe was really blue in the face from blushing by now. _"You owe me nothing, really..."_

She looked confused and nodded to him_."You have not always been a creature of the sea. You have...you have a soul."_

Abe blinked, he hadn't expected these questions. _"Why's this so suprising? Don't you also have a soul?"_

The mermaid looked sadly at him and shook her pretty head. _"Sadly, I do not. No mermaid has a soul, unless she is loved by one who has a soul."_

Abe was very tired, and he wanted desperately to go back to his room and sleep, but he wasn't finished getting all the information he needed from this lovely vision. _"What is your name? _

The mermaid looked hesitant, as though her name were some sort of curse. She said to him, _"My...my name is Sil. What is yours?" _

_"Abraham Sapien. But please, call me Abe." _He motioned to Hellboy and Liz and introduced them as well. _"And that big red fellow there is Hellboy. That lady there is Liz. They're my friends, like I said before. So no worries, you'll be fine. We'll sort everything out later, when we've all had some real sleep.Will you be all right here with Liz?"_

The mermaid didn't look quite as sure and she shrugged. Hellboy had been looking annoyed for a while and took his chance to gripe. "So, what the hell's going on?"

Abe turned around, his blush very pronounced. "Her...her name is Sil."

Hellboy had finally lost what little patience he had left. "Damn it Abe! It's two in the freakin' morning, you're mind flirtin' with a fish, and all ya found out is her freakin' name?! I don't know about you lover-boy, but I'm getting some damned sleep in this joint. Can ya **please** get that wet broad to sleep?"

"No one's stopping you, Red." Abe was becoming aggravated now. The poor girl had been through an ordeal and all Red could think of was sleep. The annoyance showed through in Abe's voice and Hellboy's head dipped for a bit.

"Oh, yeah... sorry kid. See you guys in the mornin'." Hellboy sulked out of the room to get some sleep, leaving Abe and Liz in the room with the girl. Abe sighed heavily, thoroughly exhausted. Liz did the same and turned to the girl.

"Abe? Red has a point. Why don't you go get some sleep yourself and I'll watch her.You had a rough morning too. She'll still be here in the morning, I promise."

Abe's face showed how tired he was, but he was having trouble taking his eyes from the girl. He just had this compulsion to say he'd stay in the room on the floor until morning, just to watch her. But the look on Liz's face said it all. He gave up, saying, "All right, Liz."

Before he left the room, he spoke to Sil again._"Liz is a good person. You don't have to worry anymore. I'll be back to see you in the morning."_

Sil nodded and replied shyly, _"Thank you... Abe."_

After Abe left the room, Liz found a pair of boxers and a shirt and gave them to Sil, explaining very carefully how to put them on. After a moment more of help, Sil was dressed. "Okay Sil, you can sleep here." Liz pointed to the bed.

Tentatively, Sil said, _"Where will you sleep?"_

Liz nearly jumped out of her skin. "You- you're a telapath?"

_"Yes, all mermaids are, for we have no voices.. _oh, I'm sorry_..." _Sil paused for a moment, seeming to weigh out what she should say, or rather how to put her question. She stopped and shook her head.

_"It is not important. May I sleep now?"_

Tiredly, Liz, found her voice and smiled at her goof, nodding. "Oh! Right...yeah, we'd better both go to sleep now, or the boys will be more chipper than us in the morning. Can't have that, now can we?" She sighed a little and tilted her head to take one last look at Sil for the night. "I'll be on the sofa if you need me, okay?"

The mermaid's hair bobbed as she shook her head. _"Thank you, I will be fine. I will call if I need any of you, I promise."_

Liz smiled and gave her a short one-armed hug before walking out of the room. "You're quite welcome. Good night, Sil."

As Liz left the room, Sil laid her pretty head down and , before she knew it, was off to dreamland herself. 


	2. Chapter 2

**A few days later at the B.P.R.D:**

Sil was in the library reading and holding up books for Abe to see. Abe was in his tank trying to concentrate on his research and every time he asked the pretty mermaid to turn the page he couldn't help but stare for a moment.

After a few hours of this behavior, there was a knock at the door. Hellboy didn't wait for an answer before walking straight into the room. Seeing the two (and noticing Abe's apparent gawking), he smirked. "Hey, guys. Liz got some pizza and rented some MST3K movies.Hungry?"

Abe looked up from his work and almost blushed, but nodded. "Okay Red. Give me a moment or two and we'll be there" Hellboy tromped out of the room, muttering to himself. Sil looked at abe. _Abe? What's... peet-sah?" _

Abe grinned and took her hand to lead her into the next room.. _It's food. Trust me, you'll like it._

Sil was awed by the above world. It was much more beautiful than she had thought it to be, and just as exciting as she had always heard. In all her twenty years, Sil had never been so happy or felt so safe. Abe still wondered how she had ended up almost being eaten by that creature, not to mention what she had been running from in the first place. But, looking at her, he decided to let her tell him in her own time. He just couldn't bring himself to force the information out of her. He made up his mind to let it lie a bit longer.

**That night:**

Abe was asleep in his tank when a humongous crash awoke him. He was jolted awake. There were things being smashed and thrown around in the library."Wha- what the hell?" He swam up to the glass. What he saw when the water stopped swirling was both disgusting and weird beyond anything he had ever seen before. Twisted creatures that looked like humanoid frogs with a shell-like substance on their backs and a deep depression filled with water on the crowns of their heads were tearing through the library.

Abe couldn't help but think, _Oh shit. Hellboy's gonna be pissed if he finds these things messing up Proffesor Broom's library._

Abe was getting tired of losing sleep due to supernatural occurrances. He made very sure to stay out of sight, just until he could get out of the library without being seen by the creatures.

_Oh well, so much for sleeping tonight,_he thought.

For a moment, Abe panicked, thinking that Sil might be in danger. Then he remembered that she was sleeping in Liz's old room, which was a veritable fortress with its heavy door and fire-proof walls. Liz, of course was in Hellboy's room (For obvious reasons.) As soon as he was out of the library and in the hall, he spotted Hellboy lumbering down to meet him.

He had most obviously been woken up by the noise. Naturally, he looked overly annoyed, in that singular way that Hellboy could take a look of annoyance to all new heights. "Ya know, this whole not getting sleep thing is just getting damned annoying, Abe. What ever the hell is in there is gonna pay."

Hellboy growled, as he yanked open the door to the library. As soon as he saw the kappas, his annoyance was renewed. "Aw crap! Not these guys again..."

Meanwhile, Sil opened her eyes. Something was very wrong. She could feel the presence of her father's minions, the Kappa. As quick as lightning, she was out of bed and running down the hall to the library. She could hear sounds of fighting inside. Quietly, she opened the door to the library and slipped in. The Kappas seemed to be on even ground with Hellboy and Abe, and she saw Abe trying to get a shot off but the Kappas were too close.

As one was about to slash at his neck, Sil flung herself at the creature. This resulted in her getting a very deep cut on her arm. By this point, Liz had been awakened by all the noise as well. She stalked into the room, hands burning. Abe grabbed Sil , as soon as he saw Liz enter, and ran out of the room as quick as he could so she could take care of as many of the creatures as possible, Hellboy tearing at the others.

She shot a few and as they exploded into flame, no matter the water on their skin, Hellboy joined her, knocking a good few out of the way, smashing them into the wall. The little creatures slid down the wall, unconscious as if they were comatose. They weren't moving.

Liz continued to flame them, but both she and Hellboy missed one particularly muscular Kappa that had gotten behind them both. It saw that Hellboy was busy and Liz was concentrating on taking out his kinsmen. So, at its first real clear shot, it launched itself upon Liz's back and began to slash at her.

Liz roared in pain and tried to whip around to get to the filthy little thing on her back. Hellboy had Kappa hanging off of him, almost in droves, but he shook them off , stepping on one, and rushing to try and help Liz. The thing had its sharp weapon to her throat and she stopped. "Hellboy, stop. Let me take care of it."

Hellboy shook his huge red head. "Liz! That thing'll kill ya. I'm helpin', like it or not." He began to crack his huge knuckles and growled at the Kappa holding her almost hostage. Liz shook her head again, but it seemed she was trying to get Hellboy's attention for something. Something in a corner of the room. Something that he needed to use...if only he'd get the point and fetch it.

Liz figured that talking her way out of this wouldn't work, but it would be enough to distract the little fellow until Hellboy got what she was trying to say. " This isn't necessary... there are ways to _corner_ ourselves that we musn't fall to. Really, it's a _dangerous weapon_ to have, putting ourselves out this way..."

The little Kappa tightened it's grip and pushed his weapon further. As she spoke, Liz was trying desperately to get Hellboy to notice and she kept moving her head slightly to the corner where a sharpened pole was set. Hellboy's eyes followed hers and he finally got it. "Hmm. Well ya know, I think one-a these books here says somethin' about that... gotta find it, here..."

He sidled off to the side, and when he finally made it to the corner, Liz yelled, "NOW!"

She raised her elbow up and , without fear for her life, elbowed the little creature in the face. It snarled, but the force was enough to make it drop her. It fell off her back and snarled again, running back towards her. She kicked at it, missing. Hellboy grabbed the sharpened stick and chucked it to her. As the little Kappa was blinded by rage, it rushed toward her. She kept the stick out of sight until it was close enough and she dropped to a knee, leveling the makeshift spear on her knee.

The Kappa ran straight forward, impaling itself. The shock on its face was quickly replaced by defeat. It pulled itself along the stick, impaling itself even further, its slick blood staining the wood it was skewered on. When it got right in Liz's face it said, clearly and purposefully, "The king will have his daughter. Y-you will not succ-"

Before it could finish, it was dead. As it slumped, Liz dropped the bit of stick she was still holding. Clearly disgusted, she turned to Hellboy. "Good going Red. Took you long enough." She walked up to him, hands returning to normal as she hugged the huge being tightly. He hugged back , shrugging.

"Whatever, Liz. Let's go see the kiddos, and then get the hell back to bed. I'm gettin' surly here."

As they had gotten well out of sight, Abe held Sil's arm and it felt wet. Looking down and seeing the deep gash on her arm, he rushed her to the Medical wing of the B.P.R.D and set her down on a dentist type chair. "Sil, may I see your arm please?"

Sil looked as if she were near tears. Abe assumed this was because she was in pain from the cut on her arm but, as he had been before, he was wrong. She sniffed and looked up at him miserably. _"I should leave. It is my fault the Kappa attacked you and your friends." _She finished, her pretty voice fading away in abe's mind at the end of the sentence as she looked back down at her arm that had stopped bleeding, but was still very badly cut.

Abe was uncertain what he should say to that, exactly. In order to clear his thoughts enough to comfort her, he gently started to clean the cut on Sil's arm. It was very deep and would need stitches, so he got the sterile needle and medical thread and began work. After working for a little while, he finally spoke up. Looking into her beautiful face, he asked softly, _"How could it possibly be your fault? Unless you called The Kappa somehow, and I severely doubt that you did, I don't think..."_

Tears fell from Sil's gorgeous eyes. She began haltingly. _"It is -- it is my fault because my father sent them to find me..."_ Abe looked confused now and showed it.

He asked, _"Who would have the kind of power to command something as fickle as the Kappa?" _She practically shook with fear at those words.

She answered, tears falling in rivulets down her lovely features once again, the pain of the cut far from being the cause. Her next words seemed to bring her a whole new rush of pain._ "My father Takai does..." She trembled and shook her head raggedly before continuing. "He needs to find me so he can sacrifice me to replinsh his life force." _

Abe had almost finshed sewing up her arm when she said these words. As her musical voice tapered off in his mind, his head snaped up to look at her. _"What? Sil, I think you had better tell me more about this... as -- as soon as I finsh with your arm, of course." _She nodded, clearly still frightened. He barely kept his composer after hearing what she had just said, but he kept himself together enough to finsh sewing up her arm. Gathering her up and putting an arm around her carefully, he led her back to Liz's old room to talk. Somehow, some way, they were going to sort this out.


	3. Chapter 3

Sil was nervous, not because she was afraid of Abe, but because it was so painful to speak of her past. She wrung her hands and bit her lip. _Abe, I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner... but I -- I can barely stand to think about my past, let alone speak of it... but you must know.." _

She clenched her delicate hands into fists and continued. _"Many years ago, an evil queen ruled the mer-people. She hated them and wanted to cause them as much pain as she could. So she summoned a demon, Takai. What she did not know was that the demon had been manipulating her for his own ends, and when he was free, he raped her. Nine months later, she gave birth to a child. The demon killed her and took the child and twenty-one years later, that child was sacrificed to replenish his life force. Since then, Takai has come every century to take a mate and produce a child whom he kills as they reach adulthood. I am only the latest in a long line of senselessly murdered children." _

Sil had been staring straight ahead, not looking at anything as she told Abe her story. Now that she had finished, she looked at him again. His eyes held no pity or disgust, only sadness and perhaps admiration for her. Abe put a webbed hand on hers and smiled softly. "We've faced worse than your father, Sil."

She looked at him with tears standing in her pretty eyes_."Y-you have no idea what he can do... it would be pointless to fight him. I can only run, and even that may not work..."_

Abe cocked his head, as if thinking. "Why is it pointless to fight your father?"

Sil looked at him, her tears ever nearer to falling. _"It would take something impossible to destroy him. It would take my true voice, and as I have no true voice there is no way to stop him." _

Abe looked confused for a moment, tilting his head to her. "If you have no true voice, how can you scream?"

Sil smirked. _A mermaid's scream is not a human scream. For us, it is a weapon to stun your enemies._ She said.

"Oh, I wondered why it broke the windows that night. I guess now I know." Looking sheepishly down at his hands, Abe was trying to piece together the mystery that was this beautiful mermaid sitting next to him. And all the while trying to keep her spirits up and a smile on her face. So far all he had been able to get to was keeping her from bleeding to death.

_Good job Abe,_ he thought, _good job. Now how about making good on that promise you made to her? You know, the one where you help?_

Sil looked pensive for a second as he was studying his webbing and she smiled a bit. _Abe, you are doing everything that you can. I am appreciative of your continued efforts so far. You're doing your best. I thank you._

Abe blushed a bit. "Don't mention it."


	4. Chapter 4

sorry for the long delay, I got bored with the story... but now I'm back!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sil sat quietly in the library, looking for something to read. But all the BPRD library seemed to have was research books, and she was about to give up, when she heard abe's voice from the tank. "All the novels we have are on the top shelves, though I've no idea why. . . I guess because we use them a lot less than the research books.You're really more than welcome to any that pique your interest. We have a good selection - so there's no reason to be," he hesitated, "shy about it."

"_Thank you, Abe,_" she replied. Abe idly wondered if he'd ever hear that lovely voice aloud. As Sil finally settled on an old book called "Tales of the Sea" and began to read, Abe floated in his tank and watched her. For every reason possible, he just couldn't draw his eyes away from her lovely features as she bent over the book, occasionally frowning over something read that was probably wrong, or smiling over something simple that the author had gotten right and probably thought he had made it up himself.

He hoped she didn't notice him. . . if she did, he'd make his tank water boil because he would blush so hard. He had been up most of the night researching 'Takai.' He only found one really,_ really _old text on the demon. He could swear, with a sea demon as powerful and old as Sil described, there would be more texts, if even small ones. There was one passage from the one text he did find that stuck out in his mind. It said, "_as each child reaches adulthood, they are brought to the island and killed. If the demon does not do this, he shall be sent back to Hell, forever._" Abe wasn't certain, but he assumed this meant that if he could keep Sil safe untill her next birthday, the demon wouldn't be able to harm her. Or anyone else, for that matter.

**Meanwhile, in a dark castle under the Indian Ocean:**

The demon looked, in a vague way somewhat like Hellboy, only he had no hair or horns and had blue-green skin and webbing under his arms and between his fingers and toes. His eyes were a bloody ruby color, and he had a mouth full of teeth like a shark. For 900 years he had been free of hell, thanks to that stupid mer-queen, and it had frankly been quite fun. But now, he was angry. Homicidally angry. His daughter had escaped, and time was runing out. Soon the girl would be 21 and if she still lived the day after her birthday, he would be sent back to Hell, a prospect he damned sure did not relish. In fact, he was dead set against it.

As he sat upon his coral throne and mused over these things, a messenger arrived. He was a small, puny thing, a captured mer-man who now worked to serve him. A slimy little fellow to be sure. In fact, the demon doubted whether or not he could actually trust the little mer-man, but he was king. Not this stringy little nothing. He would have things as he wanted them, or everyone else be damned.

"_M-my Lord, the k-k-kappa have still not been heard fr-from._" As he stuttered that slurred speech he had, Takai narrowed his eyes.

"Then send out the kelpie." He said as much in his voice that he used for those in real danger of losing what pathetic life they held on to. He spoke in a low, grating, ominous voice. The messenger shook with true fright and continued.

"_B-but m-my Lord . . . the kelpie is unpred...unpredi...you can't trust it w-w-w-well, a-a-and it m-m-may t-turn on you_!" As the thing stumbled and spit his words out, truly firghtened, Takai grinned in a most unpleasant way and leaned forward. He was more than pleased to make the little nothing shake himself right out of the door and get Takai the results he required. Takai was getting very annoyed, unsettled and displeased as the little messenger kept wasting his time with idle things he already knew and things that he would be taking care of if things did not go as he commanded.

"As are the kappa, but I control them with ease." He sat back on his throne and crossed his feet. He wanted to kill the little bastard, but he couldn't and he knew it. He needed someone insignificant to carry his messages. If he died while he did that, Takai didn't care. He just knew that he wanted this situation fixed and fixed _now._

The messenger nodded and fell into a deep genuflection before the huge demon on the throne. "_I-i-it shall b-b-b-be d-done my L-lord._" Takai snickered and waved him away. The little thing scurried away and Takai was surprised that the little messenger didn't leave a slime trail as he left. Takai smiled as he leaned even farther back in his throne and tried to relax. The Kelpie would find her, and kill any who helped her. He could hardly remember the last time he had used the creature, but he remembered the carnage it caused. Oh yes, that was it. He had called it up to drown an entire village...a village of over a thousand people, drowned.

He smiled and nodded to himself, closing his eyes. It must have been...ah, yes. 300 years ago. His terrifyingly satisfied smile was plastered on his face and he sighed happily. That had been great fun,as he remembered it. He would have to do that again sometime. But, only after his current snag was smoothed out. Or rubbed out. He could never remember human sayings that well.

**Back at the BPRD:**

Hellboy was thinking. Not that he didn't think often, or that it was hard for him to do, he just happened to be more skilled at kicking ass then solving problems.Always had been. Though he'd never admit it, Abe was like a little brother to him. His best friend, confidant. . . hell, he geniuinely liked him. Abe never struck him as the fighter type... but he'd been really in protective mode lately. Hellboy had a feeling that it had something to do with the fish girl. She was cute and Hellboy could see where Abe might have a little crush.

He had a really bad feeling about this Takai dude. Something told him that this whole thing was a shitload of trouble just waiting for them, and he didn't like it, not one damned bit. A noise distracted him from his thoughts. He looked up to see Liz standing in the door.

"You're worried about him aren't you?" She smiled carefully and crossed her arms. He was suprised that she could pick up on that.

"Yeah, I gotta bad feeling 'bout this whole thing. This kid 's in a load of trouble, an' you know it ain't gonna be easy to sort out." She sat down on the bed beside him and put an arm on his huge arm.

"I know, me too. But, whatever's going on, we'll figure it out. We always do.You know that, you big lug." She smiled and placed a kiss on his big red cheek."Now, if you don't mind,_ I_ need some sleep." Crawling under the covers, she proceded to fall asleep with her hand on his arm. Hellboy sighed and carefully moved her hand and put it back on her sleeping form. He thought, _Oh well, at least maybe I'll get some fricking sleep tonight_. He quietly crawled under the covers, careful not to wake Liz. And after a few minutes, he joined Liz in dreamland.

In the other corner of the library, Sil had fallen asleep with the book on her chest. It rose and fell with her breathing. Abe had finished his work early, but he pretended to work more so he could watch her more. He marveled over her getting excited about little things, especially when she got to the part in the book about the mermaid finding her way back to her parents and marrying her mer-prince. Abe's eyes were drooping as he watched her sleep. He sighed, leaning back in his tank and propping his feet up.


	5. Chapter 5

The Kelpie did not, (as some would have you belive) look like a horse. It did look slightly like one, though. It had a mane like a horse and it sometimes made sounds like one, but there was where the similarities ended. It looked like nothing so much as a dark-grey skinned man with no nose, a long horse mane and thick, sharp claws and teeth. It had no true name (that it could remember, at least) and didn't really need one.

It did remember drowning people... And oh what a glorious thing it was to see a human's life ebb away as it struggled for air! It was one of a kind, it's own singular race. It had once lived free in Ireland. It took great pleasure in luring peasants to their death. That is, until the mer-people found out. Then, it was cast into a squalid prison to await death from old age, which would never come. It was then that the mer-people had been over thrown by the demon, and everything changed. The demon let it kill and drown at will! That is, at least when it suited him to allow it. And now, at long last. . . it was free! At least, for the moment.

It had no plan to return to its prison, not ever. It would do whatever it took to stay completely free. If that meant carrying out its orders and then turning on its captors, then so be it.

**Meanwhilea at the BPRD:**

Abe woke up to a loud tapping on his tank. He looked up sharply to see Hellboy standing there, hurriedly tapping on the glass. Abe sighed heavily. _One of these days, I am going to throw him in here with some scuba gear and see how he likes it when people tap on the blasted tank! _Abe pressed the intercom button, somewhat in a snit after having been woken that way. "Yes?!"

He asked this in his"I-am-so-going-to-kill-you-later" voice. Hellboy snickered, "Come on blue, the boss wants to see us." _Great, now what?!_ Abe thought. He grumpily climbed out of his tank and changed into some dry wet-suit pants (so that he wouldn't track water every where). Hellboy was quickly growing impatient, as he was wont to do. "Abe, are ya gonna come down here some time this century?"

"Yes, yes. I'm coming..." Abe grumbled. His brain was still angry, so he thought, _This had better not be a waste of my time. . _. The halls of the B.P.R.D were strangely quiet as they walked to see Manning. Perhaps it was because it was one of those rare, quiet days or, more likely than that, there was trouble. Trouble that could only be fixed with the help of a certain few of B.P.R.D's finest, yet overworked, officers. Abe and Hellboy arrived at Manning's office.

Abe knocked. Manning looked up from the report he was reading, his eyes looking extremely tired as they normally were. "Come in." As theyopened the door, Abe heard how rundown he sounded and suddenly , his demeanor softened a slight bit in concern. "Dr manning?"

"Good. You two get in here."

Abe and Hellboy flopped down onto the chairs. "So, what's the big freakin' idea, Manning?" Hellboy was apparently as frazzled as Abe felt. " 'Cause if you haven't noticed, none of us has really gotten much sleep the last few days, so whatever it is ya got in that file had better be good." Abe snikerd inwardly. This was normal Hellboy. Lose a few hours of sleep and poke the old snark monster out of its hiding place.

This time however, Manning had no patience for being amused. "Some islanders have been disappearing off some of the Fiji islands. We've tried to figure out who'd be the best for this job and we've narrowed it down. Abe, you'll look into this for us and you'll have to take the mermaid with you."

Abe looked startled for a moment. Startled back into the state of being fully awake and ready to work. He nodded. "Yes sir. I will gather Sil and we will leave as soon as possible." He had expected 'd made sure to talk to Sil about what would happen in a situation like this one, and she swore she was ready. But, he still had to cover them in case she wasn't.

"I would like to take Hellboy and Liz with me. Due to Sil's relative inexperience in such matters as we are to deal with..." Abe blurted the sentence out quickly. He knew that Red and Liz were more than likely needed elsewhere, he just couldn't stand the thought of something happening to Sil and he not being able to stop it. With three pairs of eyes instead of one, they could all keep better watch on the mermaid and still be able to get the job done. And get it done right.

Manning nodded. "Granted. You leave tomorrow at 01:00 hours. And be prepared. This won't be a cakewalk."

Hellboy laughed loudly. "We'll see about that. Thanks Boss." He got up and brought Abe with him.

As they left Manning's office, Abe looked worried. Red smiled and clamped his huge right hand on Abe's shoulder. "Now, c'mon Abe. Ya don't need to worry so much. She'll be fine! She's with us. And ya know we won't let anything happen to her."

Sapien smiled a little and adjusted his goggles. "Thank you Red. You and Liz."

As they walked the last few feet to get ready, Abe suddenly had a sinking feeling about this whole thing. He felt as though he were leading them all to their certain death and destruction. But then again, wasn't that always the danger?


End file.
